Gratitude again

"Truly grateful people can’t be stopped. They bubble and overflow, refreshing others. Their habitual gratitude serves as a springboard to give a reason for the bouyant hope bouncing within them. They attract those who are stuck in the cares of this world, and woo them to the eternal Good," Vaughn

Ungratefulness can become a heart-hardening habit. First comes complaining, then resentment, then feeling victimized or entitled to things that we’re just not getting. This can lead to a mindset of covetousness that opens the floodgates to all kinds of sin.

Obstacles blocking a grateful spirit:
1. Lack of intimacy with God. Not experiencing His grace, mercy and forgiveness.
2. Carrying guilt from unrepented sin.
3. Self and circumstances focus rather than a God focus.

4. Pride / entitlement. The world owes me.

The biggest obstacle to gratitude is refusing to admit that apart from Christ, we can do nothing.
So how do we slough off pride and all those layers of sin and self-sufficiency that block us from thanking and praising God? We can’t. We need to be stripped by ANOTHER.

Cooperation with God as we face adversities, sounding something like: "God, I don't like what you are allowing into my life at the present but I trust you that out of this situation will come good."

Vaughn suggest four things that we an do to practice the presence of gratitude.
1. Remember. 2. Forget. 3.Look up to God. 4. look around to His people.
Remember our deliverance. Our deliverer. Tools to help us remember: journaling, stones of remembrance, jewelry, photos, music, eucharist (means to be thankful), smell. The more senses that are involved, the more fully the memory is encoded in our brains.
2. Forget: our sins, our shame, our successes. We get lost in cheap snares and doubts when we look to ourselves, preoccupied by our sin, our shame, our success as if it were all about us.
3. Look up to the grandeur of God. – even in tragedy.
4. Look around and connect with the fellowship of friends. Satan wants us isolated so he can gain footholds.

Gratitude is like getting accustomed to seeing in the dark. When entering a dark room, sight is very limited. As the eyes take on the changes to view in the dark, sight becomes more of a reality. Same with gratitude. The more I thank, the more I see for which to be thankful.

"Gratitude unleashes the freedom to live content in the moment, rather than being anxious about the future or regretting the past."

Gratitude

Gratitude. Developing a thankful spirit. If there is a common trait that I find in successful people - who are at peace with themselves and the world - it would be one with a contagious grateful spirit.

Ellen Vaughn's book "Radical Gratitude," is a writing that I need to revisit periodically. The book is material that supports Scriptures:
Ephesians 5:20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And,
1 Thes.5: 16 Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
Col.4: 2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
Phil.4: 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Gratitude comes easier when all is going our way. But there are times of adversity when the natural response is anything but gratitude. We've had our challenges since we left Idaho five months ago. The latest being a phone call today from the county's planning and zoning office. "Your driveway is not long enough to establish a mobile home. You can't proceed with your plan."

First of all, I thought our building was a modular home (which would be acceptable). By the county's definition, our 2500 square foot triple-wide is a mobile home. This comes after we had to hire a lawyer to persuade the county that we could place a home on the property.

We've had ample opportunities these past five months to practice "giving thanks" in adversity, so it was interesting to watch my response to the verdict. "Lord, I'm grateful that I can trust You to work all this out, for our good and Your glory."

"It’s incredible," Ellen Vaughn states, "The small, compliant human action of saying “thank you” constantly links us to the awesome Creator of the universe. In the practice of perceiving every part of every day as a gift from Him, we stay connected to Christ. The conversations of a continually grateful heart become a way of life, a fountain flowing in us, the means by which we acknowledge our dependence on Christ; enjoy Him lavishly, and run to do whatever He wants."

More "gratitude" in the next post.

God, are you Listening?

Taking a break from posts "living in community."

Do you ever feel or think that God isn’t listening? Or, if He is listening, the answer is usually “no” to whatever you request? The Bible is replete with promises like the following.
Matthew 7:7-11 “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
9 “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? 10 Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! 11 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.

Doesn’t this sound like if you ask and seek and knock you will receive, find an open door. Many

such promises are listed in Scripture. The basic theme: ask in faith and you will receive.
I’ve asked God for what seemed legitimate things He could do to demonstrate His power with and for me – “for the world to see.” More times than not He seemingly wasn’t listening or was saying “no” to “giving me good gifts for the asking.” Has that ever been your experience?

What is your response? For many years I was cynical. I believed in God. In prayer. But my attitude was, “Don’t ask for anything and you won’t be disappointed.”

I’ve changed that mind set. I don’t want to be cynical. Don’t want to be mad at God for not answering my prayers – healing for stuttering; healing for Parkinson’s Disease; rejuvenation of the nerves in my leg so I won’t need a wheel chair or walker.

I was recently talking to God about this and it seemed like He said to me: “Ray, I’m not intereseted in your comfort; I’m wanting you to become more like Christ (Romans 8:29). That doesn’t come from being comfortable. It comes from the kind of response you have to these things you’re asking me to do when I don’t cooperate. Yes, let your requests be made known (Philipppians 4:6-7). But trust me to do what is best regarding that request.”

Because I’ve walked with God most of my 71 years and can look back and see how He has worked “everything to my good” because of His grace and because I’m wanting to follow Him, it is easier to yield to His direction.

Does God play baseball? If so, He has to be a pitcher. He threw me a curve ball that was totally unexpected. AS a young man, beginning my career, He and I had a “come to Jesus meetin’” regarding stuttering. I felt He said He’d heal the causes of my stuttering. For 40 plus years He slowly performed that work. Fluency increased - until four years ago. It has been down hill since, so that now there are times I just get stuck and can’t get a word out.

“How did you handle that?” you may be asking. Not very Biblically. I was madder ‘n hell at God for what I saw as a renig on his part. I wallowed in that anger and self pity for a lengthy time. In God’s grace and goodness, He seemed to say,
“You’re angry and that is okay, except you’ve carried it too long and it will cripple you and stifle our fellowship. I will be giving you something better than the healing of stuttering. Trust me.”

I can’t imagine what that would be. All I know is that the demise in fluency ocurred when I changed Parkinson’s medication. I found that some research indicates that Parkinson’s is too little dopamine in the brain and stuttering involves too much dopamine. Is God’s power stifled by my bio-chemical process? I don’t think so. God speaks in Jeremiah 32:27 “I am the Lord, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me?

I am curious though. What has God got planned that is better than healing of stuttering …. Besides the obvious “de-priding”. Or establishing the greater dependency on Him to do greater things than I can do in my own strength. What is He up to? Though seemingly silent, He is more concerned with my growth in Christlikeness than in my comfort of fluent speech.

But it is that curve ball! So be it, Abba PaPa.

Personal and Group standard

My wife, Theresa, was just having her quiet time with God and she exclaimed, “Hey Ray, the close of 1 Thessalonians would be great for community living.” So I turned from reading Proverb 11 to 1 Thessalonians 5:11-28 and found what could be a perfect challenge to those living in community. I’ll extract the main concepts hopefully to encourage you to study the passage for yourself.

For the benefit of the group;
“… encourage, build each other up;
recognize and appreciate your leaders,
live peacefully;
warn those who are lazy;
encourage those who are timid;
Take tender care of those who are weak;
Be patient with everyone.

For the benefit of the individual – growth.
See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people. Always be joyful.
Never stop praying.
Be thankful in all circumstances,

Ingredients of successful community living in a nutshell…personally and corporately. Measure youself and your group by these standards, I've got a ways to go in being thankful in all circumstances.

Montana Gary's Insight

Montana Gary sent me a very interesting email that I thought you all would appreciate regarding living in community.

“In my devotional reading (through the Bible chronologically this year), I am struck by two factors so obvious as to be overlooked.

1. God always starts with a man, gives him a vision, gives him a mission, expands his influence, builds a community of people to Himself. Whether Adam, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, each one has an encounter with God, a developing relationship with God, over a period of time takes that relationship to extended family, leads those in his influence closer to God, and is noted as a man of faith. To protect from untimely knowledge from a source other than God to what God wanted to create among mankind to the saving of many lives, God always begins with the one and moves to the many through him.

2. God always gives guidelines for community. As the Bible history of man unfolds, God is consistently passing to man guidelines both for living with Him and living in community. It is inescapable that from Eden on, God tries to establish relationships both with man and between men. Guidelines for relating to God, guidelines for living in community before God. Think of the guidelines given Adam, to Noah, Abraham, Jacob, and then Moses—these all promote community with God and with man. The commands of Exodus and ordinances of Leviticus promote relationship with God, rightness between men, and the general welfare and order before God.
I have appreciated this series and the broadness of your perspective from the Word and writers of bygone days. You encourage my soul and spirit to go deeper and I thank you for that prodding.”

How blessed I am to have a friend like Gary.

Dominican - 2

In our series of living in community, we viewed The Dominican cloistered community yesterday and will wrap up that model today. This is certainly not an exhaustive presentation of them. WE can learn from this model in that focus is so dramatic and consistent that the bonds of that community are very strong. Something that our family units can benefit by.

The work of the Dominican Nun is one thing. This lifelong, love-filled job begun in the novitiate and continued from the moment of final vows until death, is one thing only—to be clothed, mind, heart and soul with Christ her Love; to do His Will and allow Him to do His Will in her and through her for the good of souls. Her principal tool is her Vow of Obedience; her love is that hand that wields it.

“For me, to live is Christ—to show forth daily in charity and humility His own earthly round of prayer, labor, obedience unto death. This is not to be abject and weak; it is to be subject and strong, as He was subject to His own creatures.

“To live is Christ. To live His selfless, sacrificial life to the hilt, the only way in which it can be lived; to give Him room to live in me as He wishes, without opposing or obstructing His plan; to make His plan—which is the glory of the Father and the salvation of souls—my own one plan, and to live out my life for that same end for which He in His turn was consumed, even to death on a cross.
“This is to be strong and tranquil, to possess true joy—not passing pleasure, but full and lasting joy, because it is His and it is He.

“Here is the key to an understanding of my Dominican way of life; to live is Christ. And if a moment is ever reached in which it ceases to be Christ and narrows down to self, then from that moment it ceases to be a life at all; it becomes a rather pointless existence.

“Whoever lives with me has God as his possession!” These striking words of St. Augustine sum up the heart of one of the essential monastic observances of Dominican life-fraternal life in communion, striving to be of one mind and heart in God. This communion is possible only when it finds its source at the heart of Trinitarian communion.

“We have not arrived at heaven, we are still on the way, and because each one of us brings to the monastery the frailty of our personal wounds and sins such a life of communion is not easy. It calls for reconciliation when we have offended each other. It asks us to be patient with each other in our failures and weaknesses. It demands that we live the Gospel imperative to “love one another as I have loved you.”

“This dynamic life of love is for the world a witness to the reconciliation of all things in Christ preached by our brethren. In this way, a Dominican monastery becomes a holy preaching-”a city set on a hill that cannot be hid.”

Our next post on "living in community" will be succint thoughts by Montana Gary, that you will emjoy and be inspired byl.

Dominican cloistered monastic community.

Possibly one of the more structured “living in community” situations is demonstrated by the Dominican cloistered monastic community. I thought you might find it interesting to peek into their “kitchen window” for the next 3-4 posts.

The Dominican Nuns of Summit, New Jersey are a Roman Catholic cloistered monastic community. Primary mission is to pray for the salvation of souls, and to support the preaching mission of the Dominican friars.

They follow the Rule of Saint Augustine in “oneness of mind and heart” while leading a hidden life of Eucharistic prayer, adoration, thanksgiving, and intercession which proclaims Jesus Christ to the world.

What is a Dominican Nun? Like all contemplatives, their specific mission is unceasing prayer for the entire Church, a spiritual service in the form of praise, adoration, intercession, expiation and thanksgiving. By profession, they are wholly consecrated to the Church and are called to the task of spreading the Kingdom of God in the world, using only the means of prayer and penance. “We hold in our hearts the sufferings and anguish of all, and are a sign to believers and unbelievers alike of the existence and presence of God, affirming the transcendent values of the life to come. By our hidden life we proclaim prophetically that in Christ alone is true happiness to be found, here by grace and afterwards in glory.”

“Our life is apostolic and universal in scope, consisting, according to the Dominican ideal, in giving to others the fruits of contemplation: “contemplare aliis tradere.” Yet, the ultimate end of the Dominican contemplative nun is to live by God alone and for God alone, while it embraces our personal sanctification and the apostolate, nevertheless transcends them both. It is transformation into Christ through Love.”

Let a Dominican nun explain. .”My home is a monastery atop a hill in suburban New Jersey. I would like to tell something about my way of life. But in order to see the heart of it, to feel its breath, and to grasp the spirit that animates it, you must know at the outset that this cloistered Dominican life—my life—is not so much a thing as it is a Person; is not something but rather Someone. For me to live is Christ.

“Christ—His love and that of souls—is its beginning. Christ—His work, the constant accomplishment of the Father’s will—is its substance. Christ—His example and the Rule inspired by Him—is its model. Christ;—He Himself;—is its goal, both for me—the silent “Sister Preacheress” and for each soul for whom He has drawn me here.”

GOODBY DIETRICH 4

For those of you who have been praying for the county zoning board to approve our 10 acre plot upon which to build - It has been approved! YEA

Our last exposure to Dietrich Bonhoeffer takes off from last post’s COMMUNITY morning schedule. Much more could be said by and about him. I commend to you his book from which these 4 posts have been taken. Life Together

From the morning regimen, it is off to work.
Psa.104:23 Then people go off to their work, where they labor until evening.
And how to work? Col. 3:23 Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

The workday – then the evening prayer. It has a special place for forgiveness. Ephesians 4:26. Don’t let the sun go down while still angry. Reconciliation for the day’s troublesome times, especially conflicts within the community.

We are implementing this exercise in our community of 5 grandchildren, two parents and us 2 prime-timers with productive results. Toward the end of the meal: “okay guys, any need for reconciliation?” Silence! No one wants to squeal on another. Prime the pump. “What about that time today when ….” And discussion begins. Hopefully it ends with, “Will you forgive me for…?” Reconciliation! It will be interesting when two adults enter the exercise. Haven’t needed to yet.
Prayer time closes with asking God for protection during the night.

Final thoughts from Dietrich Bonhoeffer:
THE DAY ALONE
“Let him who cannot be alone beware of community Let him who is not in community beware of being alone.

“The mark of solitude is silence, Right speech comes out of silence and right silence comes out of speech. Silence is nothing else but waiting for God’s word and coming from God’s word with a blessing.

“Meditation: we read God’s word as Gods’ word for us.

“Prayer: means nothing else but the readiness and willingness to receive and appropriate the Word, and, what is more. To accept it in one’s personal situation

“Intercession: A Christian fellowship lives and exists by the intercession of its people.

Bonhoeffer on Community - 3

Continuing our Dietrick Bonhoeffer perspective on community living, he suggests a daily group schedule which could be as meaningful to a two generational family as it is to a large living in community.

It begins with Morning activity: come together early for common praise (including songs, common hearing of the Word and common prayer. “Morning belongs to the group, not the individual." according to Bonhoeffer.

May I be so bold as to differ with the community guru? I need to begin the day with a God focus for my particular station in life. Study and memorizing Scripture don’t seem to happen if the execise is not done first thing in the morning. I'm better prepared for the day and for the group if I've first spent some intimacy time with Abba PaPa.

Scriptures that enforce the significance or morning time with God:

Ps. 5:3 Listen to my voice in the morning, LORD. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly
Ps.57:7-8 My heart is confident in you, O God; my heart is confident. No wonder I can sing your praises! Wake up, my heart! Wake up, O lyre and harp! I will wake the dawn with my song.

Lam.3:23 Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.

Notice the pronouns are personal. “my voice…I bring… my heart.. I can sing… I will wake. No mention of group -“we” or “us.” So Dietrich, this Ken-tuckee heeal billee has a differing opinion. Meet with God individually. Then group.

Scripture reminds us that men of God rose early to seek God and carry out His commands: Abraham, Jacob, Moses and Joshua. So also with Christ (Mark 1:35)

Bonhoeffer addresses prayer: "Psalms teaches us what prayer means: 1 prayer means praying according to the Word of God. 2 What we should pray. 3. pray as a fellowship, selflessly.
The more deeply we grow into the psalms and the more often we pray them as our own, the more simple and rich will our prayer become. "

The prayer of the psalms, concluded with a hymn by the family fellowship, should be followed by a Scripture reading.1 Tim.4:13 tells us, "Give attendance to reading. "

In a family setting: a chapter of the Old Testament and at least half of a NT chapter every morning and evening, is suggested by Bonhoeffer . Sing: Eph.5:19-20 - 19 singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. 20 And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Bonhoeffer concludes his morning thoughts with , “After the bread of eternal life comes the earthly bread. Meals should be a time of rejoicing and gratitude. Eccl. 9:7

More Bonhoeffer next time.